Dr. Vibhuti Sachdev

Vibhuti Sachdev qualified as an architect from the School of Planning and Architecture (New Delhi) in 1989. After a period spent in practice and research in India, she undertook a PhD in architectural theory at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), which she completed in 1996. She was later Lecturer in History of Art in the University of Sussex, a post that she left in 2004 to return to India. She has worked as independent writer and lecturer and as consultant on conservation projects.

Dr Sachdev is an authority on Vastu Vidya (India’s traditional architectural theory). Many of her publications concern this or related knowledge systems, and their expression in architecture and art. She has worked extensively on the city of Jaipur, focusing on its architecture and craft traditions. She is the co-author of two books on the city. Building Jaipur (2002) uses Jaipur as a test case for exploring changes in planning theory and practice in India between the pre-colonial and post-modern eras. Jaipur City Palace (2008) discusses both the visual and social cultures of the city’s primary former royal residence. Since publishing these books, Dr Sachdev has been a consultant on the restoration of the Jal Mahal in Jaipur, was the design curator for the artwork of its pavilions and the co-curator of the exhibition ‘Painted Pleasures’. Her latest book is on the Festivals at the Jaipur Court.